Mead

[Gayle]

Thought this would be the best place to ask;

Made up a mead myself (well melomel technically) when I calculated the ABV it came out about 6-7 percent however when I took a hydro reading it was up at 10%

It this just due to the unfermentables in honey but still making the water denser or am I missing something? :wha:

What was the recipe? Did you have fruit in it while fermenting? As the fruit will contribute fermentable sugars but probably not affect the hydrometer reading. If your hydrometer said you'd have an alcohol potential of 10%, the yeast should have been able to manage all the sugars and finish almost dry. I did read about the "honey being 80% fermentable" but I'm not sure if by that they meant 80% of the sugars are fermentable or 80% of the weight, since there is water in honey. I've never had a mead's FG end up above 995 on the hydrometer, but different honeys can have different amounts of fermentables.

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Honey is about 83% sugar, predominantly fructose, so it's about 80% fermentables.

 

[Dibison]

My receipe for a 2L batch
340g jar honey (81g per 100g honey total sugar = 275.4g)
200g summer fruit mix (5.4g per 100g total sugar = 10.8g)
Small handful raisins (no idea about sugar content here but surely it's negligible)
2tsps nutrient


So by my math that's 275.4 + 10.8 = 286.2g ... 286.2/2 = 143.1g per litre and my tables say 145g/L is 7.2% ABV

So allowing for potential losses with evaporation or topping up, 6-7% :P unless I've messed up, no? :P

 

[tazuk]

mmm may have a go how long befour you can drink it mmmmmm :thumb: :

 

[Lampie]

mmm may have a go how long befour you can drink it mmmmmm :thumb: :

I thought it would be hard to leave it for that long.. But if you keep on going with other brews its not realy that hard.. Got 9 liters of mead fermenting for 2 weeks now and I expect that it will take an other few months to ferment because of the poor yeast nutrient to go on.. But just keep some other brews going it makes things a bit easier :).. But i know that its a long ferment and ageing so i hope i am a bit prepaired for a long ferment and ageing time :).

I finally had some commercial mead with herbs, granberry and just straight and did not realy find the tast of the herbs they used to my taste but the granberry and straigth mead whow its worth the patience!

 

[Gayle]

My receipe for a 2L batch
340g jar honey (81g per 100g honey total sugar = 275.4g)
200g summer fruit mix (5.4g per 100g total sugar = 10.8g)
Small handful raisins (no idea about sugar content here but surely it's negligible)
2tsps nutrient


So by my math that's 275.4 + 10.8 = 286.2g ... 286.2/2 = 143.1g per litre and my tables say 145g/L is 7.2% ABV

So allowing for potential losses with evaporation or topping up, 6-7% :P unless I've messed up, no? :P

My brain is not upto the maths this morning but 7% sounds about right. It shouldn't require as much aging as a wine-strength mead, but it might have less "body" since there is less honey... but the added fruits should make it a delicious drink :)

Got 9 liters of mead fermenting for 2 weeks now and I expect that it will take an other few months to ferment because of the poor yeast nutrient to go on..

The meads I've done haven't taken more than 3 weeks to ferment, (although I haven't done tons of batches, so my experience is limited) if you haven't added any nutrient then get some in there, even if it's only a vitamin B tablet or 1/2tsp tomato puree, the yeast will be less stressed and less likely to stall the fermentation!

 

[Intelekt]

My receipe for a 2L batch
340g jar honey (81g per 100g honey total sugar = 275.4g)
200g summer fruit mix (5.4g per 100g total sugar = 10.8g)
Small handful raisins (no idea about sugar content here but surely it's negligible)
2tsps nutrient


So by my math that's 275.4 + 10.8 = 286.2g ... 286.2/2 = 143.1g per litre and my tables say 145g/L is 7.2% ABV

So allowing for potential losses with evaporation or topping up, 6-7% :P unless I've messed up, no? :P

Ooh this sounds like a good one for my ex westons scrumpy 2 litre jar :party:
What summer fruit mix do you mean, I'm thinking the frozen berries type?
And do you chop the raisins?

 

[Dibison]

Yea tescos frozen mixed berries, summer fruits, I stablished it and back sweetened with that polish raspberry stuff it's a LOVELY drink just now

As for the raisins I chopped half then got lazy and fired the lot in :P